Young farmers join the international debate on food challenges at the G120 | Blogs Series: Agriculture, ICTs and Youth

On 16 and 17 June 2011 more than 240 representatives of 120 farmers' organizations coming from 80 countries of the world convened in Paris to weigh with the outcome of the G20 agricultural meeting. The objective was to voice the viewpoint of the world’s farmers to the ministers of agriculture of the 20 most powerful countries of the planet.

This G120 was organized by the French National Federation of Farmers' Unions (FNSEA) and Jeunes Agriculteurs. FNSEA is the biggest farmers' union in France; it represents a majority movement of relatively productivist, technicized, entrepreneurial and family-managed agricultural holdings. Jeunes Agriculteurs federates young farmers of up to 35 years of age from this same majority movement of French agriculture.

The President of the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the opening ceremony of the meeting to recall the strategic status of agriculture in world public decision making and the importance of the viewpoints from farmers’ representatives to guide the work of the G20. He presented the goals set by the French Presidency for the G20 agriculture meeting:

1. To encourage governments and the private sector to reinvest in agricultural production and productivity;
2. To improve the transparency of world agricultural markets and to strengthen international coordination;
3. To limit the impacts of volatility on the most vulnerable populations;
4. To improve the regulation of financial markets trading derivatives of agricultural commodities.

Farmers' representatives at the G120 debated on the overall themes of global growth and food challenges, the instability of commodity prices, and climate change, environment and land access all seen as elements of sustainable world agricultural production. For each theme, a panel of farmers from around the world commented on the viewpoint of an international expert. A young farmer was represented on each of the panels. Young farmers at the G120 were thus given the possibility of influencing the political debate on food security at its highest level.

What role can young farmers play in responding to food challenges?

The G120 recognized the primary role of youth in preparing the turnover of generations in agriculture. So as to secure this turnover, public policies should ensure adequate conditions of primary and technical education, investment, and access to land and markets for young farmers. Information and communication technologies like the internet and mobile phones will be relevant tools to disseminate best practices to young farmers of the world. The latter are likely to gain better access to these new technologies, which will help them tackle in the most appropriate way the numerous food challenges of the future.

All the debates of the G120, the final declaration and the expert presentations can be downloaded here.

Jo Cadilhon

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NB: this blog has been cleared for circulation, yet does not represent the views of the French Ministry in charge of agriculture

Jo Cadilhon
Agro-economist – Governance and marketing chains
Centre for Studies and Strategic Foresight
French Ministry in charge of agriculture
http://agriculture.gouv.fr/centre-d-etudes-et-de-prospective 

Email : jo.cadilhon@agriculture.gouv.fr